Ambition isn't a Sin
by Jiang-Mei
Summary: Cora Tripe is tired of the stereotypes that come with each Hogwarts House. She isn't asking for Inter-house unity, she's just tired of being judged. After all, how is judging students by their house any different from judging people by their blood? HIATUS
1. Overly Ambitious? Already?

Hello friends! I'm just going to tell you right now, this is an OC centric story with a slight OliverxOC **SUBPLOT. OliverxOC will only be hinted at and will mainly be focusing on a friendship for this story.** Now for those of you interested, I'm planning a sequel to this where I am planning on having OlivercxOc romance for the most part, being the main plot.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. Just my OCs.

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><p>It was a warm breezy day in late august at the Tripe House. The shadows of the trees in the front yard fell gently over the house and danced every time the light breeze shook the trees. Out in the spacious back yard, a young eleven year old girl waited anxiously for the owl with her letter from Hogwarts to come.<p>

"Cora, dear come inside," called her mother, Aquila Tripe, "We don't even know if it's coming today."

Cora huffed as she got up, "But there are only two more weeks until September!" She trudged her way across the yard over to her mother. Just as she reached the doorstep her father Corvus Tripe stuck his head out the door.

"Guess what just got here," he smiled knowingly. Cora beamed brightly and ran into the house. By the time her parents got to the kitchen, the owl was gone, the envelope was on the floor and Cora was waiting for them with the list of school supplies in her hand.

"Can we go to Diagon Alley now?" she asked her parents eagerly.

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><p>The Tripe family walked down Diagon Alley on their way to Olivander's. Corvus was carrying Cora's new school robes while the Tripe women tried to navigate through the busy streets.<p>

"Mum, Dad?"

"Yes, Sweety?"

"Tell me about Hogwarts. What was it like when you were there?" asked Cora curiously.

"Well the experience partially depends on what house you get put in," explained Corvus, "As you know, I was in Ravenclaw while your mother and your late Uncle Tarquin were Slytherins."

"Tell me about the school then. What does it look like?" Cora asked eagerly.

"It's a big castle, with a lovely lake beside it," described Aquila, "The inside is full of hallways lined with magnificent paintings and decorations. Ghosts roam around the school as well, but my favorite part of it was always the Great Hall. The ceiling is charmed to look like the night sky. It's lovely."

"My favorite was always the moving stairs," added Corvus.

Cora gasped, "The stairs really move?"

"Mmmhmmm-" started Corvus before he was cut off by Cora running off towards the now visible wand shop. She was at the door when her parents caught up to her. A bell over the door tinkled as they stepped inside.

The shop was small and shabby. Wand boxes were piled everywhere. A thin old man with gray hair came to the front from behind one of the many shelves stacked with wands.

"My daughter's here to get her wand," said Aquila, catching the man's full attention.

"Right," said Mr. Olivander as he took a measuring tape from around his neck. He started measuring various parts of Cora ranging from her arm to her earlobe.

"What's this got to do with wands?" wondered Cora, "When can I start trying wands out?"

"Don't you worry young lady. You'll have your wand soon enough," assured Mr. Olivander as he took his last measurement and disappeared behind a shelf. "Here we are," he said as he returned. He handed Cora a long reddish-brown wand and stepped back.

Cora looked back and forth between her parents who nodded encouragingly to her before she gave the want a flick. As she flicked the wand, a great gust of wing came and blew over several boxes of wands.

"Let's try another shall we?" said Olivander as he took the wand from Cora. He came back shortly with another wand. This one was shorter and black with a nice hand grip on the end. He handed it to Cora and stood back once again. Cora flicked the wand and the lamp on the counter shattered. This went on for quite a while; Cora started to feel like she'd tried dozens of wands.

Olivander came back out from behind one of the shelves with yet another wand. "This one should do it, I think," said Olivander confidently. He handed her a medium sized black wand with a couple of evenly spaced notches on the end to be used as a grip.

Cora took the wand in her hand and flicked it. This time, instead of some disaster, a glowing warmth seemed to come from the wand and enveloped Cora with its gentle light.

"Ah," said Olivander, "That is a very nice wand you have there Miss. Tripe. Eleven and a half inches, blackthorn, and the core is dragon heartstring. Yes a very good wand indeed."

Cora stared at her wand a felt its smoothness while her parents paid for the wand.

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><p>Once again the Tripe family was walking down Diagon Alley, only this time they were off to get textbooks. Aquila had offered to carry Cora's wand for her, but Cora refused to give it over. Cora was staring at all the sights as she walked when she noticed a store with a broom in the window and little figurines flying around on brooms.<p>

Cora tugged on the sleeve of her mother's robe, "Mum, can I go look around that shop?" she asked, "Please?"

Aquila looked down at her daughter and sighed, "Alright. Go on then. We'll catch you up when we've got your text books."

"Ta," said Cora happily as she walked off towards the shop.

A bell over the door rung as she entered the store. The shop was very bright and quidditch balls lined the walls along with numerous brooms. Some were out on display around the middle of the store. Quidditch magazines and books lined shelves near the cash register. The shop was filled with boys and girls, along with older teenagers and even some adults.

Cora was looking at all the various brooms when one in particular caught her eye. It was a sleek reddish-brown broom with an insignia that read Comet 260. The bristles on the end were thin and made the broom look like it could go quite fast.

"If you're looking for a broom, that's not the one you want," said the voice of a young boy from over Cora's shoulder. Cora jumped and looked around, behind her stood a brown haired boy about the age of thirteen.

He smiled at her and kept talking, "It looks good, but compared to others, it has rather poor performance. Now, it's the Clean Sweep Seven, or if you can afford it, the Nimbus 1700 that are really good. Those two are the ones you want."

Cora didn't quite know what to do about this strange boy or what to say. Noticing her discomfort, he held his hand out to her and introduced himself, "I'm Oliver Wood."

Cora cautiously took his hand and shook it, "Cora Tripe."

Oliver noticed that the girl was clinging to what appeared to be a brand new wand, "Getting ready for your first year at Hogwarts?" he asked her. Cora nodded slowly.

"You'll love it," promised Oliver, "Being sorted is a little daunting, but it only lasts a minute. I'm going into my third year. I'm in Gryffindor. Now that's the house you want to be in," he paused for a second. "If you're a first year, why are you looking at brooms? You can't own one or try out for quidditch until your second year. Were you going to try out?"

Cora shrugged, "I don't know. I've only ever been to a couple games. I wouldn't know where to start."

"You should think about playing. It's a great game," He strode over to a magazine shelf and pulled out one called _Quidditch Monthly: The Basics_. "Here," He handed her the magazine, "This edition of _Quidditch Monthly _is pretty good for starters."

"Oliver!" called a woman's voice.

"I have to go. See you at school!" said Oliver as he left the store.

"Thanks," called Cora. After he left, she went and leaned against a wall and started flipping through the magazine. It explained what each player did and even had pictures showing some players in action. She was most impressed with Beaters. They flew at fast speeds, had to protect other players, and had to balance on a broom while hitting the Bludger away from their team and in the direction of the other team's players.

Shortly after, her parents came to get her from the store. They were walking home when Cora spoke up, "I think I'm going to be a beater on a Quidditch team at Hogwarts."

"Sweety, are you sure about that? A Beater?" asked Corvus, "Usually only big burly guys are Beaters. Wouldn't you rather be a Chaser or a Seeker maybe?"

Cora shook her head, "I want to be a beater. Can I get a new, faster broom for it, Mum?"

"Honey, you can't even try out this year. If you still want to next year, we'll get you a new broom."

"Fine," sighed Cora.

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><p>Over the next two weeks, Cora worked on her flying skills with her old Clean Sweep Five. She was a little shaky at first, but towards the middle of the second week, she could fly without having the broom swerving or diving. Sometimes she even flew with a stick in her hand to represent the bat she would be flying with if she ever made the team.<p>

Finally September 1st came, and with it came the Hogwarts Express to take all of the students to Hogwarts.

Cora stood in the train station saying goodbye to her parents. She was nervous and excited at the same time. She'd never been away from her parents or home for more than a week at most. At the same time, she couldn't wait to start classes and learn how to use magic.

She boarded the train and waved to her parents one last time before she went to go find a compartment for her to sit in.

The train was full of students talking and being surrounded by all the older students was kind of daunting. Most of the compartments were already taken and as hard as she tried she couldn't seem to find anyone her age. She caught a glimpse of Oliver in one of the compartments, but he was laughing with some friends of his, and she really didn't know him well enough to be comfortable getting his attention.

Finally she found an empty compartment and decided to take it. She took out her copy of _Quidditch Monthly_ that her father had bought for her. As she started reading the train lurched into motion. Soon enough Cora got lost in a world of Snitches, and Bludgers, and Quaffles. She was startled out of her magazine when a girl with light brown hair knocked on the door of the compartment.

"Hey, can I sit here?" she asked, "I can't find anywhere else."

Cora nodded and the girl came in gratefully, "Thanks. I'm Zara Harkiss by the way."

Cora smiled, "I'm Cora Tripe."

There was a small awkward moment of silence before Zara spoke up again, "So are you a first year too?"

Cora nodded, "It's all so overwhelming."

Zara nodded in agreement, "I didn't know when to change into my robes, so I went ahead and did it." She looked over at Cora and started giggling, "Looks like you did too." Both the girls giggled. It was funny that they both had the same idea.

"What house do you want to be in?" asked Cora.

"I want to be in Slytherin!" exclaimed Zara, "That's the house both my parents were in."

"My mum was in Slytherin too. So was my uncle," said Cora.

"Was your dad from another school? Was he from Durmstrang?" asked Zara.

"No. He was a Ravenclaw," explained Cora like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Zara looked at her friend strangely, but changed the subject, "What house do you want to be in?"

"I don't know," mused Cora, "I was told Gryffindor was a good house, but my parents said the same thing about Ravenclaw and Slytherin as well."

"Well whichever house you end up in, you don't want to be put in Hufflepuff,"warned Zara.

"Why not?"

"My dad says that's where all the extra students get put. The other houses have standards, but Hufflepuff will just let anybody in," explained Zara knowingly.

Suddenly the train lurched to a stop. The hallway started to fill with students getting off the train. The two girls stood and gathered their things. As they stepped off the train, a giant man with a wild beard directed them to a lake with dozens of small boats. They were to sail the rest of the trip to Hogwarts while the older students took carriages.

The boats sailed gently over the calm water. The only sounds were first years whispering to each other and the splashes of the oars. Finally the top of the highest tower of the castle came into view, slowly but surely the rest of the castle came into view. It was beautiful. The lights from the windows made the giant stone castle look warm and inviting. Cora grinned. She couldn't wait for the coming school year.

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><p>Thanks for reading this guys. Please review. If you like my work, I have other stories in other fandoms. Feel free to go take a look at them.<p> 


	2. Sorted

Hey guys! So I think, because I have to get through over 7 years of Cora's life in this story, each year will not be written in detail. I'll just have some significant moments in Cora's life during each year, then move on to the next as I see fit. Just thought I'd give you guys a heads up on that.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

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><p>The boats came to a smooth stop at the edge of the Black Lake. From up close, the castle looked a little menacing, despite the warm, inviting glow from its windows. It towered over them and seemed to go on for forever to the small first years. All the dark shadows cast by Hogwarts' countless towers and statues only seemed to add to the castle's intimidation.<p>

The giant hairy man now known as Hagrid led them across a large expanse of grass to a large, ornate wooden door at the top of a short stone staircase. Along the way, the first years looked around curiously. At the bottom of a steep hill was a little hut next to a dark foreboding looking forest, and a little ways off from that was a large, ancient looking willow tree.

As the children passed through the large doors, they looked all around the room they were shown into. It was fairly small considering how big the castle is. The whole room was constructed out of stone, but was surprisingly warm. Cora looked up at the ceiling only to be met with ornate, circular patterns that could almost, but not quite pass for flowers.

"So this is the Chamber of Reception," said Hagrid as he sort of awkwardly rocked back and forth on his feet, "Professor McGonagall will meet you at the top of those stairs," he pointed at the staircase, "and show you to the Great Hall in a moment." With that he walked up the stairs and disappeared through a pair of doors that were even more ornate than they had passed through earlier.

There was a minute of awkward silence before people started shuffling around and whispering to each other in awe and excitement. The eleven year olds slowly made their way to the top of the stone staircase and stopped as soon as they finished climbing the last step.

Eager to see more, Cora pushed and shoved her way to the front of the mob of first years. Not, one to be left out, or lose the only person she knew, Zara followed Cora to the front. Before Cora had a chance to look around more, an aged yet elegant woman joined the group of children.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," Her voice commanded authority and immediately everyone looked up at her, "I am Professor McGonagall. Now, in a few moments you will pass through these doors, and join your classmates, but before you can do that, each of you must be sorted into a separate house. They are Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin."

The first years were getting restless with anxiety and excitement. A dark-skinned girl with black hair next to Cora shifted and accidentally stepped on her toe.

"Ow!" remarked Cora in a hushed voice as she pushed the girl off her, "Watch it!"

Professor McGonagall shot Cora a look, and immediately, the young witch shut up.

"Now your houses are like your family. You will live together in dorms and work together to win the House Cup at the end of the year," McGonagall went on to explain how one could both gain and lose the points required to win the cup for their house. After she was done with her speech, she turned and the ornate wooden doors leading to the Great Hall opened to reveal a large room full of people.

At the far end of the room was a long table full of professors. At the very center of the table sat the famous Headmaster of the school, Dumbledore. Running perpendicular to this table ran four equally long tables full of students.

The first years were led by Professor McGonagall down the center aisle of the four tables filled with students. They all gawked at the size of the room, as well as the floating candles and starry sky above their heads where a ceiling should be. All the older students turned in their chairs to look at their new prospective house mates.

McGonagall led the students to the front of the Great Hall where a stool with the Sorting Hat sitting on it was waiting for the first years. They all gathered around the stool as McGonagall stood next to it and pulled a long scroll of names out of the sleeve of her robe.

"Before we begin, Professor Dumbledore has a few things he would like to say," she addressed the whole room.

Dumbledore stood up and gave his standard start of the year speech which included welcoming the new students and warning everyone to stay out of the Dark Forrest. When he sat down, Professor McGonagall took over once again.

"Now, when I call your name, come up and sit on the stool. I will place the hat on your head and you will be sorted, after which, you may take a seat at the table belonging to your house," she looked down at the list, "Fred Weasley."

A red-headed boy separated from his twin and hopped up on the stool. Within almost a second of touching his head, the Sorting hat bellowed, "Gryffindor!"

The boy hopped off the stool, gave his twin a high-five, and went to sit next to some other red-heads at the Gryffindor table.

"Cedric Diggory!"

Once the hat resting on the boy's head, it seemed to mumble to itself for a moment before yelling, "Hufflepuff!"

Zara shot Cora a knowing look as the brown-haired boy made his way over to the Hufflepuff table. They both snickered quietly.

"Cora Tripe."

Cora immediately stopped snickering and looked up. She gulped as she made her ascent to the stool. As she sat, she turned to face the students. Everyone was looking at her. She scanned the crowd for anyone that looked familiar to reassure her. Of course there was Zara, but she was whispering with a girl that road their boat over to the castle with them.

What was she even thinking? Why would she know anyone other than Zara here? She was new after all. Cora was just about to give up on scanning the crowd when a face caught her eye. It was that boy from the Quality Quidditch Supplies store, the Gryffindor that had introduced the world of Quidditch to her.

She saw him look directly at her and smile as if to say, "Breath. You're doing fine." He even gave her a little wave to reassure her. She gave him a little shy smile back, and took a deep breath.

McGonagall placed the hat on Cora's head.

"Hmmmm. Where to put you?" murmured the hat. Cora could hear the hat's thoughts inside her head! Her eyes widened in shock.

"There's a great deal of loyalty here, but also a lot of ambition," the hat looked deeper into her psyche, analyzing every crevice of her mind.

"You are quite an achievement-oriented child aren't you? Very determined and resourceful…and clever! Maybe even a smidge of cunning…but where to put you?"

Cora fidgeted a bit. It was strange being complimented by a hat, if you could even call his words compliments.

"Hmmm, better make it Slytherin!" the Sorting hat yelled the last part out. The students at the far table decorated in green and silver clapped as McGonagall plucked the hat from Cora's head and Cora slid of the stool.

Zara patted Cora on the back as she passed the group of first years on her way to the long Slytherin table. All the Slytherins had stopped clapping at this point and were all looking at the front in a bored manner. At the very front of the table was a group of empty seats left for all of the first years. Cora awkwardly walked over and sat at one of the many empty seats.

As she sat, Zara came sprinting over to her. "Told you I'd be a Slytherin!" she exclaimed as she sat next to Cora, "To be honest I wondered if you'd make the cut, having a father in Ravenclaw and all that."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Cora exclaimed defensively.

"I doesn't matter," Zara brushed off her comment as nothing, "We're housemates now! Do you want to sleep in the bed next to mine?"

Cora nodded apprehensively as she watched all the Gryffindors welcome the other red-headed Weasley twin to their table full of friendly faces. It seemed like all the other houses welcomed their new housemates, but Slytherins just seemed to not care.

Was this what having high standards meant? That you have to always behave as if some important person was visiting and you had to be quiet and behave for your parents? But even this seemed a little colder and more indifferent than just being extremely well behaved.

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><p>By this point, all of the first years had been placed in their respective houses and McGonagall was calling for everyone's attention. Slowly, all the students stopped talking and turned to face their assistant-Headmistress. Dumbledore stood and held up his glass, "Let the feast begin!"<p>

Immediately, the tables were filled with foods of all shapes and sizes. Everyone's goblets were filled with pumpkin juice as well. The Hall was once again filled with the chatter of students sharing their adventures from the summer with their new friends.

After the feast, all the students were told to follow their prefects to their dorms. As they all struggled to get out the great doors at the end of the room, Oliver caught sight of Cora.

"Hey!" he ran up to her, "Congratulations. See? I told you being up there wasn't that bad."

"Th-Thank you," she said shyly. What was wrong with her? Why did she always get so shy around this boy? He wasn't anything special. Just an upperclassman that was nice to her.

He smiled and was about to open his mouth when Zara came up behind her and pushed her away, "There you are! Come on! We're getting left behind!"

"Uh see you around then I guess," waved Oliver.

"Bye," nodded Cora as she waved at him mover her shoulder.

Once Zara had sufficiently pushed Cora into the group of Slytherins she hissed, "What are you doing?"

"What do you mean?" asked Cora, "I was just talking to Oliver."

"Don't you know anything about being a Slytherin? Demanded Zara, "I mean I know your dad was a Ravenclaw and all, but you should know enough from your mum at least."

Cora was about to object to her new friend's accusations, but wasn't given a chance to get a word in her defense.

"Slytherins don't talk to people from other houses. It's beneath us."

"But why? I don't understand."

"You were obviously raised by your Ravenclaw father," mumbled Zara under her breath, "We don't need a reason why. It just doesn't happen. My parents told me so."

"But what if they're nice?"

"How did you get into this house?" demanded Zara.

Cora shrugged, "The Hat just said that I was very ambitious."

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><p>The students came to a stop in front of a bare wall in the dungeons. The prefect turned to them.<p>

"This is the entrance to our Dormitories. It would do you well to remember where this is," he turned to the wall, "The password to get in is _Asphodel."_

The wall creaked a little then slid open to reveal the Slytherin common room. The walls were gray stone decorated by green banners. The lamps had green shades that emitted a greenish glow all around the room. The sofas were black leather and one wall was just a window that showed the bottom of the Black Lake.

"Girls Dormitories are to the left, boys are to the right," were the prefect's last words before he left the students standing in the doorway.

"Lets go pick out our beds!" exclaimed Zara as she dragged Cora towards the left-side door at the other end of the room.

The dormitories, like the common room, had gray stone walls. The room was actually fairly sparse. The only things in it were the beds and a drawer for each student. The beds and drawers were made out of a dark wood and the bed had green curtains with a silver design on it hanging from the posts along with green sheets covering the bed.

Someone had already put all the students trunks in the dorm. All that was left to do was to pick a bed. Cora and Zara chose two next to an underwater window.

By the time they had unpacked their trunks, it was already past curfew for the first years. Cora and Zara snuggled into their beds. Within moments Zara was asleep, but Cora was too excited for classes the next day to be tired at all. All thoughts of her little confrontation with Zara from earlier that night were gone and replaced with thoughts of potions, charms, defense against the dark arts, and most of all flying class.

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><p>Thanks for reading! Please review!<p> 


	3. Flying and Changes

Hey Guys! Here's the next chapter, this is one of those time skips I was talking about in an earier author's note. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, only my OCs.

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><p>The next day, Cora was so excited, classes seemed to fly by. She had Potions class with Prof. Snape, the head of Slytherin house, and Transfiguration with the assistant Headmistress, Prof. McGonagall. She loved all he classes, Charms with Prof. Flitwick, Herbology with Prof. Sprout, even Defense Against the Dark Arts with that professor whose name she couldn't seem to remember.<p>

The class she looked forward to most, however, was flying with Madam Hooch. It felt so good to be on a broom again. It had seemed like forever since she'd had the breeze rushing through her hair as she soared through the sky. At least that's how she imagined feeling.

In reality, the broom she was given was unreliable, all of them were. It took at least five minutes for everyone to get their brooms to fly into their hands. Every time she commanded, "Up," the broom just rolled around on the ground. Getting the brooms in the air was even worse, and then the actual flying, that was disastrous. Students kept crashing into each other, and the brooms kept swerving, no matter how hard the students tried to control them.

It was a wonder Hogwarts kept some of the brooms, much less that they allowed first year students to learn to fly on them. Quite a few of the students fell off the brooms multiple times, including Cora. Luckily no one got seriously hurt.

Soon enough class was over and the first years all trudged off the Quidditch pitch, eagerly awaiting warm showers and soft beds.

"That was bloody awful!" ranted Zara as she and Cora climbed up the hill towards the school, "I think I'll be sore for a week. I don't think I can survive taking this class every day!"

"It was horrible wasn't it," agreed Cora, "Flying isn't supposed to be like that."

"Well either way, flying is not something I think I'll grow fond of," maintained Zara.

"It doesn't matter if you like it. We have the class all year," remarked Cora somewhat snidely. Her sore muscles and bruises were putting her in a sour mood. They trudged through the hallways of the castle on their way to the Slytherin common rooms.

They were about to descend the stairs that led to the dungeons when they passed a group of Gryffindor. Among them was Oliver. When he saw Cora he smiled and waved.

Cora gave him a tired smile and waved back at him when Zara nudged her in the ribs, adding to her bruises.

Oliver's smile faltered when he saw Cora's friend elbow her and pull her away, but just shrugged it off and went back to talking with his friends about all the school work they already had.

Zara pulled Cora down the stairs and into the dungeons, "What are you doing?" she hissed, "We already talked about this. You can't associate yourself with any other houses."

"But-" Cora started.

"No!" Zara cut her off, "You're a Slytherin, and Slytherins don't act like this."

"..Okay…" grumbled Cora, "I guess you would know better than me."

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><p>As the year wore on, flying classes got easier, Cora felt like if she could handle Hogwarts brooms, she could handle any broom. Unfortunately, all the other classes did not progress in the same way. They just got harder and the work load got heavier. On top of all that, Cora went through a workout routine she and her father had planned out to help her condition for Quidditch tryouts next year.<p>

Hogwarts had lost its initial luster for Cora, but it was still a magnificent place. The halls were a lot lonelier for Cora than she had originally thought. It turned out that Zara's words had some truth in them. Slytherins don't associate with other houses and other houses don't associate with Slytherins. She had even gotten some glares from random classmates from other houses that she had never even talked to before. Pretty soon, she even started returning the glares.

If there was one thing that made her saddest though, it was that she seemed to see Oliver less and less. He was an upperclassman by two years, and because of that, the never had classes together, and rarely, if ever saw each other in the halls.

For a while it got to the point where they only smiled at each other or said a quick hello whenever they saw each other, but now they barely even acknowledged each other.

Cora started hanging out with Zara and the other Slytherins more and more. She could see why the other houses wouldn't want to associate with some of the Slytherins, but others weren't that bad.

Her first year at Hogwarts had taught Cora a lot, but if there's one thing she learned, it's that some things in life just don't make sense. And if there was a second thing, then it would be that people don't always hold up to your expectations.

Yes, the naïve little girl that entered Hogwarts certainly wasn't stepping off the Hogwarts Express as the same person that boarded it at the beginning of the year.

Stepping off that train was like a breath of fresh air for her. It would be nice to spend the summer holidays away from the regulations of Hogwarts Houses.

Her parents were waiting for her at platform 9¾ with open arms.

"There you are sweetie!" smiled Aquila as Corvus swept her up in a bear hug.

"How has school been? It's been quite a while since your last letter," asked Corvus.

''Oh…it's been fine," Cora forced a smile out. In truth, after the first month it had started to disappoint her. The classes and teachers were fine of course, and the school itself wasn't bad at all. It was just everything else that was disappointing. Her parents' smiles faltered at Cora's lack of enthusiasm. Something about their daughter was different. She wasn't quite the same as she was when she left.

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><p>They didn't have to worry long though, because within a week she was almost completely back to her old self. She had decided to dedicate her entire summer to getting ready for Quidditch tryouts on the second week of school.<p>

Corvus, being a past Beater for the Ravenclaw Quidditch team for two years, spent three hours each day helping Cora to condition. He even went out and bought her a bludger and bat for her to practice with, and after loads of begging on Cora's part, he bought her a nimbus 1700 as well.

One hot August afternoon, Cora and Corvus were taking a break under the big tree in their backyard, when Cora spoke up.

"Dad."

"Hmmm, what is it?"

"If you were in Ravenclaw, and mum was in Slytherin, why did the both of you start seeing each other?"

"What do you mean?" asked Corvus, confused, "I we fancied each other and started dating."

"But other houses don't like Slytherins. And we aren't supposed to 'associate' with other houses. Zara said that it's beneath us."

Corvus sighed deeply, "Many Slytherin students come from pretentious pure blood families that look down on half-blood families and muggle born students. On top of that, a very bad man, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, came from Slytherin. That gives Slytherin a bad reputation, so it's natural that there's some animosity between Slytherin and other houses. Do you understand what I'm trying to tell you?"

Cora thought for a moment, then nodded slowly, "I think so…" She didn't quite understand everything that her father told her, but she did understand that the bad blood between the other houses and Slytherin weren't going to clear up any time soon.

"But if that's true, how did you and mum start talking?"

Corvus was quiet for a moment and got a look in his eye, like he was reminiscing something. "Let's just say that your mum was different from other Sytherins," he looked down at her and ruffled her dark hair, "Don't worry. You'll understand soon enough."

He took one last swig of water and stood, "Alright! Back to work. Come on. Up."

Cora got to her feet and mounted her broom and bat while Corvus went over to the case holding the bludger. He put his hand on the clasp and looked up to Cora who was now hovering in the sky.

"Ready?" He asked. Cora nodded with a determined look on her face.

"Alright," Corvus called as he unlatched the wooden box. "Here it comes!" The bludger sprang out of the box and towards Cora. There was a split second where Corvus thought Cora might miss and get hit by the bludger, but he didn't need to worry. The bat met the bludger with a loud crack, and the bludger flew at one of the branches of the tree, barely missing it.

"Good job," Corvus clapped as it started coming back, "some more practice and I think you'll be ready."

Cora prepared to hit the bludger again as hit came at her. She was determined to make this happen.

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><p>Thanls for reading! Please review!<p> 


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